Episode 20
22/10/2007 | Filed under Podcast
On this show: The panel discusses setting up your own web design agency. We also look at the results of the A List Apart web design survey, rant about accessibility ignorance and find new approaches to dealing with clients.
Multimedia web content
This week’s guests are Andy Budd from Clearleft, Alun Rowe from Pentangle, and Jonathan Snook. The topic of discussion focuses on setting up your own agency, which is the cover feature of the November issue of .net magazine and written by Mark Boulton. Topics include:- Why do it in the first place?
- What are the main obstacles?
- What sucks about being your own boss?
- How important is a business plan?
- How to finance yourself.
- Should you seek legal advice?
- Do you need to be an accountant, too?
- Establishing a customer base.
- Making the switch from being employed to self-employed.
- Making the switch from Freelancer to Studio.
- How to achieve long term success?
News
Web Design Survey 2007
A List Apart have finally released the long awaited results of their Web Design Survey carried out in April. Close to 33,000 web professionals answered the survey’s 37 questions, providing the first data ever collected on the business of web design. The results include data on average salary, gender balance, age, location and much more. Download the survey results PDF or even access the original data.
Ignorance over accessibility
Jeremy Keith highlights the amazing level of ignorance over the subject of web accessibility in his blog post Ignorance and Inspiration. Most of the post focuses on the responses coming from “so called web professionals” over the Target class action suit currently happening in the U.S. The general theme is that people simply do not understand accessibility fearing it will be expensive to implement. They therefore lash out with ridiculous statements such as...
How Selfish. Instead of re inventing the wheel, all they have to do is ask a friend or family member to help them.
Fortunately Jeremy’s post does end with some inspiration, referring as it does to Mike Phillips, a freelance technology journalist who is severally disabled. Jeremy links to a two minute video showing just what freedom computer technology and the web can give to the disabled. Something that those commenting on the Target case could do with watching.
Photoshop smart objects
Veerle Pieters is a talented designer who regularly shares her knowledge via her blog. Her latest post is a tutorial extolling the benefits of Smart Objects in Photoshop. She explains how they can be used for cutting down repetitive tasks as well as for maintaining detail when scaling bitmap images.
Great advice for dealing with clients
Let’s be honest, we all like moaning about our clients from time to time. However a new article on the Ideas website suggests that they are not always the problem. Its a brilliant article that provides some great tips for dealing better with our clients. The advice includes; setting expectations, really listening, being more positive, learning to let go and much more. If you ever get frustrated by your clients this is worth reading.
